Ending Epic Office Search, Deloitte Headed to 30 Rock

Long one of the looming giants on the hunt for Manhattan office space, Deloitte has finally settled on roughly 430,000 square feet at 30 Rock.

Sources told The Observer that the major accounting firm has signed a deal at the midtown tower. According to an internal memo obtained by accounting trade Web site Going Concern, the tenant has signed a lease for 12 full floors for 18 years, consolidating space it currently occupies in the World Financial Center, 25 Broadway and 1633 Broadway. The deal was finalized Jan. 14, according to the memo, and represents the second largest office lease of the young year.

Although details of the deal were not available, asking rents on similar recent deals have been $70 a square foot.

Cushman & Wakefield brokers John Cefaly and Dale Schlather, who represent the tenant, either declined or could not be reached for comment.

This will bring to a close, at least in part, a drama-filled search that began when Deloitte announced it was scoping for 600,000 to 800,000 square feet in prominent buildings like 11 Times Square and 4 World Trade Center, as The Observer reported in 2009. In fact, the Post reported this July that the firm had inked a 400,000-square-foot renewal, in a direct deal with Brookfield Properties at 4 World Financial Center. This deal would appear to put the kibosh on that. (New Jersey has also already approved a $42 million incentive plan for the firm to relocate 1,400 workers to the state.)

While the deal would have come in just below 2010’s largest lease, for 444,000 square feet by French bank Societe Generale, it’s already trounced this year by a 490,000-square-foot deal by Hong Kong clothing conglomerate Li & Fung in the Empire State Building.